Dirac Conversations: Dam Thanh Son

ICTP is a hub for international science, attracting thousands of scientists each year, including some of the most prestigious physicists and mathematicians in the world. Hundreds of Nobel laureates, Fields medallists, and ICTP Dirac medallists have visited ICTP over the years, sharing their insights and perspectives with ICTP's international science community. ICTP is capturing some of these insights in its video series of "ICTP Conversations" and "Dirac Conversations". All were conducted by ICTP Director Atish Dabholkar, sometimes accompanied by members of the Centre's faculty.

In this episode of the video series ‘Dirac Conversations’, 2018 Dirac Medallist Dam Thanh Son, professor at the University of Chicago, is interviewed by Atish Dabholkar, ICTP Director, and by Marcello Dalmonte, a research scientist in the ICTP’s Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics section.

Son was awarded the Dirac medal in 2018, alongside Subir Sachdev (Harvard University) and Xiao-Gang Wen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) “for their independent contributions towards understanding novel phases in strongly interacting many-body systems, introducing original transdisciplinary techniques”.

In this conversation, they touch upon the deep connections between apparently different research areas in physics, and discuss Son’s theoretical work as well as his experience as a Vietnamese physicist training in Russia and working in the Unites States. They also talk about ICTP’s role in fostering advanced science in the developing world. 

The interview took place in August 2022, when Son was at ICTP to lecture at the school on “Quantum Dynamics: From Electrons to Qbits”.